AICN EXCLUSIVE! Has Frank Darabont Started Casting FAHRENHEIT 451?!

Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
Boy, I hope this is true. I read an early draft of Frank’s FAHRENHEIT 451, and it struck me as another one of his exceptional adaptations, where he took everything great about Bradbury’s novel and not only made it work, but actually tweaked it in some very savvy ways.
The key, of course, is casting Guy Montag, the Fireman who is the lead in the film. I’ve heard people wish-list the film and toss out names like Paul Bettany and Matt Damon, but now we’ve gotten a tip that Frank has already picked the guy who he wants to have suit up.
All I know is that I desperately want to be in this film as one of the “books” if Frank ends up using that conceit. Maybe something by John Irving...
Anyway, here’s the rumor. As soon as we can, we’ll confirm this one, and I’m hoping that as Frank winds down on THE MIST, he jumps right into this. It’s been too long since his last film, and it would be great to see two in a row from him.

By way of tipster cred, know this: I gave you boys Billy Crudup as Manhattan well before it went public. Use this as you see fit. Or don't. But my source is [someone who would certainly be in a position to know]. According to him, Frank has his FARENHEIT 451 fireman signed and ready to burn:
Tom Hanks

It's a book about the virtues and importance of the written word, a concept best delivered BY WRITTEN WORDS. It's like reading a book about how good food is. Yeah, if the writer is good you can get the idea, but it's not the same as eating the food.

Fahrenheit 451 is not, he says firmly, a story about government censorship. Nor was it a response to Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose investigations had already instilled fear and stifled the creativity of thousands.
This, despite the fact that reviews, critiques and essays over the decades say that is precisely what it is all about. Even Bradbury’s authorized biographer, Sam Weller, in The Bradbury Chronicles, refers to Fahrenheit 451 as a book about censorship.
Bradbury, a man living in the creative and industrial center of reality TV and one-hour dramas, says it is, in fact, a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature.
“Television gives you the dates of Napoleon, but not who he was,” Bradbury says, summarizing TV’s content with a single word that he spits out as an epithet: “factoids.”
http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/ray-bradbury-fahrenheit-451-misinterpreted/16524/

It's more about the dumbing down of society. In the future society of the novel, books have been done away with because the public no longer wants them because they are filled with depressing and complex ideas. People want mindless entertainment instead. As we move into an age of flat panel HD monitors, it's almost scary how right Bradbury was about the future.

also deals with a complicit government that is directing the censorship. This is not about a society that simply gets bored at books, but a concerted effort to dumb down a society through entertainment. If you find it ironic that this novel gets adapted to the silver screen, maybe you should wonder how our society has become so dependent on media, even as a source of intellectual debate.

Darabont always loves to talk INDIANA JONES 4 and his script for it but why doesn;t he ever talk about the failed DOC SAVAGE project that once had Schwarzenegger attached? Moriarty likened it to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK for god sake. This is what could have been or what could be if producers have the balls to let a 60 year old man play action god again http://www.keithtarrier.com/fafs/10-docsavage/10-ds-01.jpg

You cast Tom Hanks when you don't know what else to do. Sounds like a weak script to me. Hanks is like the straight man Nicholson. You don't go to the movie to see what it's about- you go to see what Jack's gonna do this time. Except Hanks is also dull to watch. Yawn. Guess casting a safe actor like Hanks, also assures that any subtext in the film will be washed (or burned) right (or Right) out.

Tom Hanks, with all due respect, is too damn old for this role. Billy Crudup would be fantastic. Mark Wahlberg might be a good too.
Other possibilites: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ryan Gosling, or Ryan Reynolds. I know you all think of Reynolds as Van Wilder, but he was badass in Smokin' Aces.

...very well, and I imagine that's why he's been chosen here. Problem is, that schtick has become so overused and become so familiar in recent years that it's lost much of it's impact, almost to the point where it's become a cliche of itself in the same way as Morgan Freeman playing a film's jiminy cricket conscience/wisdom giver character, or Sam Jackson yelling dramatically. You over play any beat too long and it loses it's impact. <p>Add to which, as has already been raised, the age thing is a valid comment too, though not strictly critical as thematically you could open up a few more doors with making the character older. <p>What this project really needs is a 60's era Paul Newman or Steve McQueen type, but how many of those do we have these days?

Good call on Gosling. He's my first choice as well. I like Hanks, but agree that he's too old for this one.
And this is gonna get me flamed to oblivion, but if we want torn/conflicted, what about Leonardo DiCaprio?

The Truffaut film was perfect. Darabont, frankly, should have more class. I like the idea of a MARTIAN CHRONICLES revisit - I remember loving the Rock Hudson TV version when I was a kid, but I've got a horrible feeling that it would stink if I watched it again. And my calls for the inevitable casting of Guy Montag? Kevin McKidd, Peter Sarsgaad (sp?) Paddy Considine. Maybe Eric Bana. Hanks is plainly twenty years too old.

Actually I like this casting. I could easily see Tom Hanks toting the party line and burning books, but then becoming conflicted. He's "everyman" and people will believe his transition.
BUT Lt. DAN...YOU AIN'T GOT NO LEGS!

...and in no way does the tipster suggest which part he's playing. There is the firechief part, which will take a certain amiability that switches to dark quickly, something Hanks has played very well in movies like Road to Perdition.

Fucking duh. In the forward he wrote to his own book in one of the later additions, he commented on how the book is often taught in secondary schools. He said he is constantly getting requests by the schools to take out the swear words when they teach it. And how he's absolutely appalled that those charged with teaching the book have clearly missed the entire point when they actually try to censor it for students. He happily rejects all such requests.

Hanks is the acting equivalent of vanilla. And not even top-shelf high quality french vanilla either, I'm talking McDonald's soft serve. He's a faded eighth-generation photocopy of Jimmy Stewart. And casting Hanks in a movie is a purely financial decision, not an artistic one. If he's got the lead, 451 is doomed to obscurity the moment it leaves theaters after collecting its $200 million box office.

I recently just reread an old paperback of Farenheit 451 that I find in an old box in storage. The thing is, Bradbury never physically describes Montag, so you can basically cast anybody at any age as Montag---anyone from Matt Damon to Dennis Quaid to yes, Tom Hanks.

Tom Hanks is the biggest box office star in America. If he signs on to do it then it will get made. I'm more curious as to who else will get cast in this film. I think Morgan Freeman would make a great Fire Chief. Maybe Jim Carrey as the nutty man that aids Montag? Maybe Scarlett Johansen for the female lead?

Well, we had the European art-house version, so now it's time for the Hollywood Blockbuster super-commercial version, complete with CGI robot dogs, fat-boy Hanks and McDonalds tie-ins. Fast losing interest :-(

I like Tom Hanks plenty but he is NOT right for Guy Montag. I hope if he is in that he plays Beatty which would really be something new for him. Whoever suggested Gosling had it right. Montag is 29 not 54.

I guess Hanks is o.k., but I did have the same instinct as a few people above that he's a little old for this role.<br><br>That said, I didn't really find this news to be that much of a revelation, given that Tom Hanks is the first choice for so many roles, and he does have the Darabont connection.

instead of burning books...they should focus on how too much information destroys society :)
“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.”
Neil Postman - Amusing Ourselves To Death 1985

ha. that would be funny as hell. he could even sing his song in the film. he kissed another man's lips on b.e.t. that seems a little strange to me. i think tom hanks would be good for 451. i can't wait to see what they do with this film. i am a fan of the original as well. stuntin like my daddy.

No, really. Think about all the TV shows and movies that have been held back or released in butchered form to the public recently: WKRP episodes with the music chopped and swapped, the forbidden episode of Hawaii 5-0 that was yanked, syndicated cuts of ALF and other shows, Amos & Andy, Greedo shot first, etc. Like the people in Farenheit 451 that had to memorize and become books, it's just possible today's video pirates and swappers are keeping the original versions of our entertainment alive. Today's thief a hundred years from now might just be a hero when someone in the future discovers that the only existing copy of a classic TV show or movie is a bootleg. I'm just saying...

Michael J. Anderson, the dwarf from Twin Peaks and Carnivale. Lindsay Lohan, she could sniff cocaine off her wrist then pick up a book and go, "Eeewwww." Ron Jeremy, Billy Boyd, Meryl Streep, Chevy Chase. How about Harry? Thanks for the compliment ScotFree.

Kyle MacLachlan (with Dennis Hopper as Captain Beatty "Fuck Hemingway, Pabst Blue Ribbon!"), or Crispin Glover (the role calls for "torn, conflicted" which he has in spades), maybe Adrian Brody, or even Depp.

Well the 1966 movie was good for a 1966 adaption, a modern version with the dogs would help get the idea across better..
Not happy with hanks, would like someone younger and better (odd cause I'd prefer older actors for Watchman) but he'll get butts in seats I guess.. and I also vote for Lindsay Lohan or Courtney love for Mrs. Montag.. they can be as doped up and stoopid as they want to be...

love Hanks in just about anything, hell he even made Bosom Buddies and Mazes & Monsters watchable. Darabont is one of my favorite director's right now, and 451 lends itself to a remake much better than all the retread crap we see otherwise.

Let's go through a grammar lesson, eh?<p>
What does ":" mean? Does it mean "end of sentence, the next part has nothing to do with the former"? Or is it easily translated to "equals"?<p>
Here are a couple exercises.<p>
The fireman being considered: Tom Hanks.<p>
Now, is Tom Hanks a separate sentence? Or is Tom Hanks the fireman being considered?<p>
Now I know what I can easily consider you: <p>a retard.

fala serio...like someone said before, darabont had nowhere yo go, and turned to hanks, that can play anything brilliantly, though this time he's TOO OLD for the part. where are the tough guy actors like macbain? i throw my 2 cents: daniel brulh, ben foster, or ryan goslin...

...IMHO. To me, the original looks like a sci-fi Blow Up. It's one of the few 60s sci-fi movies (along with 2001 of course) that avoided a hokey production and rather it looked elegant, I would dare to say. Julie Christie was great in it. I have no desire for a remake and I doubt any fans of the original do, but Darabont's a solid filmmaker, so with it being in good hands, I'll probably see it anyway.

Even if the role should be given...rather, they should be begging actors like Ed Norton, Sean Penn, Christian Bale, Colin Ferrel, Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger, or Robert Downey Jr. to play this role. They would own it. Big Time.

I say stick with casting a British actor into the role. Since Christopher Eccleston would be too "old" for the role, I say go for Ray Stevenson, especially if there will be an action element to it much like the "beefing up" of *I Am Legend* when Sir Ridley Scott was helming that project. As we saw on HBO's *Rome*, Stevenson had range.

Jemima Rooper for the female character that introduces Montag to the other thinkers. In the 60s film, her character survived but in the book, she certainly didn't. At least now, the lethal robot dog could be used in the movie, and thus the jetpack cops which totally looked like action figures suspended on strings could be bypassed this time 'round.

OK, Hanks isn't the age of the character, but the character feels older and wearier than 30 years anyway. A good adaptation would not have a problem with making this character older in a way that works. I have more problems when Romeo and Juliet are made older or Emma Thompson plays an eighteen-year-old.
Hanks will be fine, as long as the script is good. As for censorship, no matter how much of the book is really about dumb television, you can't discount the fact that books are illegal and the government burns them and the houses they are in. I mean, how can that enforcement and destruction NOT be about censorship in some way or the other? They are probably going to change a few things anyway, but I don't think there's much of a stretch, either with casting someone older, or with focusing on censorship of the government.
Equlibrium and Serenity have both ripped off the basic ideas though, remains to be seen if this will compare more against them or the Richard Burton 1984.

Considering that you are bashing my grammer, you might want to string together some sentences that make fooking sense. There is not one thing you wrote that I can make heads or tails of. But I don't end my sentences with "eh?" So I will just keep it real and tell you... suck a fat baby's cock and move on retard.

Hanks is too old, but it would be ballsy casting to cast him as Montag's villainous supervisor. As for Montag, Eric Bana or Edward Norton would be good and they're the right age. It's been a while since I read the book, but my impression was that Montag was a relatively young man, but coming up on middle age.

Bitch....bitch...bitch...you guys are all over Eli Roth, jj abrams, and the like, but you trash people like Spielberg and Hanks and Lucas. Is this a movie site or a get your anger out on strangers site? Fucking boring is what it is.

I'm gonna throw out a Rick Baker-aged Phillip Seymore Hoffman. I re-read 451 recently and for some reason, that was all I could see. <p> Or maybe Bruce McGill (AKA "Doomsday" from Animal House) <p> Oh, why do we even bother.....?

Wrong wrong wrong. Why is Tom Hanks getting cast in all the wrong parts?!? I like him a lot as an actor but he's not THAT good. And he's not right for this part, or his greasy hair. Here's hoping this is a false rumor...

i am not kidding when i say that. we should all band and have our massive opinion change that casting, so that Hank Toms plays against type as a fascist book burner that is the chief. what...oh we don't have that power...or do we? tã-tã-tããã...

whoever caught that Hank Toms joke is a Conan sommelier as myself...another good "SSssSecrets" is by a famous guitarist and it goes like this: i got my name when i was working at this supermarket and i was i charge of slashing the prices...

Sorry to disappoint: I'm not a Gayformers fan and I thought the Truffaut film was certainly one of his weakest. Given the current political climate, I think an intelligent 451 adaptation could be pretty chilling. Tom Hanks? Meh, why not? He's good at that slow, incremental change that Montag's character requires.